The present invention relates generally to connectors and multiple-unit connector assemblies, and more particularly, to a retainer for aligning and maintaining a plurality of connector modules, such as wafer connectors, together as a unit.
In the field of telecommunications and in other electronic fields, cable assemblies are used to connector one electronic device to another. In many instances, the cable assemblies have at one or more of their ends, a plurality of connector modules, each of which serves to connect a plurality of individual wires to an opposing connector, such as a pin connector. It is desirable to somehow connect the individual connector modules together so that they may connected and disconnected from an opposing connector as a single unit, in order to save in time in making the connections, as well as for other reasons.
Structures for attaining these aims are known in the art, but tend to be large and bulky as compared to the overall size of the connector modules. Such structures are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,490, issued Jan. 31, 1995 in which a two-part retainer is used. The two part retainer in this patent surrounds the entire exterior surface of the connector modules and thus increases the overall size of the connector modules, when assembled together as a unit inside of the retainer. This may force the use of a different design for the opposing connector which the unit of connector modules are intended to engage. A similar retainer housing is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,992, issued Jan. 15, 1991. This retainer also defines a hollow interior into which a plurality of connector modules are inserted. The retainer surrounds the exterior surfaces of the connector modules and therefore increases the overall size and mass of the connector module unit significantly.
The present invention is therefore directed to a novel and unique retainer assembly for use with a plurality of connector modules, preferably wafer connectors, that does not increase the overall size of the unit of connector modules and which reliably aligns the connector modules together and maintains them in a unitary fashion.